The Purdue Comparative Literature Program presents the 2010 Conference

Graphic Engagement: The Politics of Comics and Animation

Purdue University – West Lafayette, IN
September 2-4, 2010

The Purdue University Comparative Literature Program welcomes papers that explore the ways in which comics and film animation engage us politically and profoundly influence the way we define gender, race, religion, class, and nationhood. “Political” can be defined broadly, relating not only to affairs of state, but also the praxis of visual narrative and ways it affects individual identity and community dynamics. Possible paper topics may include, but are not limited to:

· The appropriation of national myths and folktales in animated film
· Dynamics of humor and subversion in syndicated comic strips
· Imaging the ethnic/racial other in comics and other forms of visual narrative
· Representations of gender and sexuality in anime and manga
· The Franco-Belgian comics tradition and its political import
· The language of comics as a form of rhetoric
· Superheroes as defining, or complicating, communal and national identity
· The use of graphic novels and animation in the classroom
· Socio-political issues surrounding graphic novels and library cataloging
· The links between comic/animated images and the gaming industry
· Visual representations of conflict in such places as Israel, Korea, and Germany
· Political cartooning and its social impact
· Representations of trauma in comics and animation
· Journalism, biography, and memoir in comics

Keynote Speaker
Kim Deitch

Kim Deitch got his start in the late 1960s, working at The East Village Other and Gothic Blimp Works. An Eisner Award-winning writer with experience in both comics and animation, he is the author of such works as All Waldo Comics, The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Alias the Cat, Shadowland, and The Search for Smilin’ Ed.

For up-to-date information on the event, including details on the keynote speaker and registration, visit the conference website: http://graphicengagement.wordpress.com/

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